To Be Queen
by melli-elle
Summary: Alianne's daughters have to try and find their way in the world. But can two opposites really be sisters? And will the Queen To Be help or Hinder? Please RR
1. The Would Be Queen

Disclaimer: Some of these characters I have made up myself, and some are Tamora Pearce's. But everything else is pretty much Tamora Pearce.

Short History: Aly and Nawat have two children, both girls. Merian is 14, and Desiree is 10. Dove is married to a man named Torance. They have a daughter named Sarugani, who is 11. Most of the servants are still there (those who didn't die in the war, that is) and Saraiyu spends her summers at Rajmuat, and Aly's family come down every once in a while. The lands are in peace, mainly. There are still a few riots on the lower islands, but are only small ones. Nearly all the problems that the Copper Isles had before are gone…

Chapter 1: The Would Be Queen

Aly was awoken from her sleep by a shriek. She jumped out of her bed, trying not to wake Nawat. She runs out of her room, and down the corridor of her quarters. She stopped in front of a door, opens it to find her daughter lying on the floor. The girl sits up, her black hair falling to her shoulders.

"Sorry, Mother. It was just a bad dream, and I fell out of bed," Merian said, in her soft voice. She stood up. Even though she was only 14, she was nearly as tall as Aly. She was a beautiful girl, with almond shaped golden eyes set into her soft pale skin. Aly smiled at her daughter, before lighting a candle on the wall. She walked over to Merian to make sure she wasn't hurt.

"Are you sure your alright?" she asked, touching her cheek briefly. Merian nodded, and yawned.

"Yes, and if I'm meeting with her majesty tomorrow, I best be getting some sleep," she said, and Aly nodded, blowing out the candle, and walking out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.

The next mourning, Aly was sitting in her office, reading some papers she had received from her spies in town. She smiled. The only thing they really had to report was a fight over some wrong change in Market Town. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," she yelled, and the door opened, and there was the queen herself, Queen Dovesary Mintant-Balitang. Her personal maid, Pembery, followed her in the room, while her guard, Fesgao, waited at the entrance to the room.

"Your Highness," Aly rose, bowing, but Dove put up a hand to stop her.

"Aly, how many times must I tell you, do not call me that. My name is Dove," she said, sitting in the chair on the other side of Aly's desk. Aly nodded, and sat at her desk. She moved aside some papers.

"As you know, Aly, today your daughter will be meeting with Sarugani. Sarugani, for some reason, would rather have Merian in her court, and not Des. It is understandable, of course, Merian being the more beautiful, but you well know that I know better then anyone what it's like to have a sister who is twice as beautiful as you. I do not want to wish Des to feel bad about it," she said, her hands running through her long black hair. Aly thought this over. Dove was intelligent, but Sarugani was not stupid. Des was not the nicest girl, especially to Sarugani. For Sarugani to allow Des to be in her court, it would be terrible, not only for Sarugani, but also for the other girls in her court.

"Dove, I do not believe that Des would want to be in Sarugani's court. Des and Saru… They don't get on very well… but I have discovered that it is in Merian's interests to join Saru's court. It must be allowed… Des will not mind," she said, choosing her words carefully. Dove sighed, then nodded.

"It must be then. But if either of them change their mind, we must allow it," She said, and walked out of the room, motioning for Pembery to follow her. Pembery hesitated, but Dove kept on walking. Aly looked up, before nodding to Pembery. Pembery was one of Aly's spies.

"I have news," she said, and Aly nodded again, and Pembery sat down.

"Go on, Pembery," Aly said. Pembery looked nervous; she was playing with her hair.

"I heard from Abaci that Merian has accepted Saru's invitation to join her court," she said, and then Dove called out for her. Pembery waved to Aly as she walked out of her room. Aly sat back in her chair to reflect on what she had just learnt.

OOC: Just so everyone knows, this is chapter 1, the next few chapters will probably Chapter 1 as well. Thank you for reading; please review.


	2. Gossip

OOC: OK, changed my mind… Not doing the whole chapter one continued thing.

Chapter 2: Gossip

Mean while, Merian and Saru were sitting in The Pavilion of Delightful Pleasures, with the rest of Saru's court. They were seated on benches well out of earshot of their attendants and elders. Saru sat at the head of the table the benches surrounded, which gave her a look of importance. Her long silk black hair was pinned up, while some of the other girl's hair was out, like Merian's. Merian sat there quietly, listening to the slight talk that went between the younger girls.

"But do you think that Lady Lompon will change her mind?" a silly blonde girl asked. Her name was Jala, and she was the youngest daughter of an old laurin noble family.

"Of course I do, Jala. Her son is too important to her," the princess replied, in her sharp voice. They were in fact discussing the relationships of the older girls. Merian choose to ignore the fact that most of the girls they chatted about were her age, and it did not seem to mind the others at all that she were not included in their conversation.

One of the other girls that sat with them, a short red-head with a squeaky voice named Berry, coughed loudly. All the girls, including Merian, turn to look at her.

"Why don't we ask Merian?" she asked, her squeaky voice going unusually high. The other girls turned to Merian, to hear her reply. She thought quickly, before answering.

"Well, if you really want my opinion, Lady Lompon would not let Daga marry Sincei. Especially since Lady Lompon knows that Sincei has been running around with Kaodo." That set the other girls off. Ignoring Merian once again, the girls now started to talk about whether or not Daga would find out about Sincei and Kaodo. It wasn't until Saru started to say that she needed to get some rest did the talking stop. Saru got up, and it wasn't until she left that the others started to talk again. Merian got up, not caring anymore, since the princess wasn't there to offend her, she walked out of the pavilion, and over to her quarters.

Merian was just about to read one of her books when there was a knock on her door. She opened the door, and there stood one of Saru's message boys.

"Her Highness wishes to see you," he said, and Merian nodded to him, and he walked out. Merian walked out of her room, and out of her quarters, and made her way over to the royal quarters.

When she arrived, Saru was sitting at her desk. She nodded to Merian to come in, and Merian shut the door behind her. Saru quickly wrote something down, before standing up and Smiling at Merian.

"Merian. I do apologize for the other's behavior, back in the pavilion. They completely left you out of the conversation. I will inform them that you shall be included next time," she said very formally, as she sat down, and motioned for Merian to sit next to her. Someone had left tea and biscuits on her table. Saru offered them to Merian, and she accepted.

"Your highness, I do wish you would not fuss over me so. I was quite content just listening to your conversation. If it's not to bold of me to say, it was immature for my taste," she said, and Saru bit her lower lip. Merian was the only person in the entire kingdom that Saru would allow that kind of speech from. She would especially not allow it from her sister.

"Of course. You are used to older conversations. You know, it is odd. When Mother was my age, she would talk to people that were decades older then her. But I am not like my mother it seems," she said, taking a sip of tea. There was a laugh outside the door, and the presence of Saru's maid, Guani, and Merian's maid, Silci, was known to the girls. Merian shook her head.

"Even you, Saru, like to talk about older things than those girls that accompanied us today. I mean, to talk about Kaodo and Sincei as if they were characters in a play, performed by players," she said. Saru nodded, and finished off her tea. She called to Guani, who came in, Silci following.

"I am ready to change for supper. Merian," she said, turning back to Merian as she slowly stood up. "I assume you'll be having supper with your mother. I hear your father is gone out again." Merian looked at her, her eyes glazed with a look of confusion.

"When did you hear of that?" she asked.

"On my way up here from the Pavilion of Delightful Pleasures. I hear Gossip, Merian. I live for gossip. You know that," she said, and Merian curtsied to her queen, and left the room.


End file.
